Wales’s Children and Young People’s Plan is a five-year cross-government plan focused on the improvement of child well-being. It is part of the 2021 Programme for Government and closely tied to the well-being objectives laid out in the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015.
Wales’s Children and Young People’s Plan
Abstract
Context
The Children and Young People’s Plan, introduced as part of the Programme for Government in 2021, reflects Wales’s long-standing commitment to children’s well-being. In 2004, the Welsh government set seven core aims for children and young people drawing on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The core aims, which included access to education, health and leisure, helped set the focuses, commitments, and intentions of the plan.
The plan was developed by the Government with input from an external advisory group including children and young people from various backgrounds, alongside partners from the public and third sector.
Description and key outcomes
The Children and Young People’s plan is an integrated policy plan embedded in the broader national agenda of well-being. The Plan is part of the 2021 five-year Programme for Government. It also contributes to some of the “nine national milestones” of the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015. Annual measures and reports on the Plan's contribution to these milestones are submitted to the government sub-committee as well as to the Minister for Health and Social Services.
The Plan is implemented across the government and is not led by a single department or agency. It encompasses a large range of goals across policy areas. The Plan has seven cross-government priorities where the Welsh Government will work collaboratively across ministerial portfolios over the next 5 years to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and young people. It also provides a snapshot of some of the activities which have already been undertaken and some which will be taken forward over the next year so that children and young people are kept informed of the work Welsh Government is doing to help and support them. These priorities are: the best start in life for children, a fair treatment in education, support of education journeys, support of mental and emotional strength, a fair chance in life for all children, a good and secure home to live in, and support for children to stay or come back together with their family.
Policy relevance
The Children and Young People’s Plan provides a unified vision and coherence to the Wales’s work on child and youth well-being, aligned to its Programme for Government. It allows cross cutting issues in this area to be addressed across departments, policy areas and ministerial portfolios, as well as the voices of children and youth to be heard and represented at all government levels.
Further information
Children in Wales (2022), Welsh Government’s Draft Children and Young People’s Plan Consultation: Young Wales Findings Report on behalf of Welsh Government, https://www.childreninwales.org.uk/application/files/5916/4606/4043/CYP_Report_English.pdf
Future Generations Commissioner for Wales (2023), Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 website, https://www.futuregenerations.wales/about-us/future-generations-act/ (accessed October 27 2023)
United Nations (1989), Convention on the Rights of the Child, https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child
Welsh Government (2022), Children and young people’s plan, https://www.gov.wales/children-and-young-peoples-plan
Welsh Government (2022), Children and young people’s plan: What we will do to support children and young people who are growing up, living and working in Wales, https://www.gov.wales/children-and-young-peoples-plan-html#:~:text=This%20plan%20sets%20out%20the,published%20our%20Programme%20for%20Government.
OECD resources
Dirwan, G. and O. Thévenon (2023), "Integrated policy making for child well-being: Common approaches and challenges ahead", OECD Papers on Well-being and Inequalities, No. 16, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1a5202af-en
